Small Fry Club

“Small Fry Club” was a Children’s educational type series with skits thrown in with a studio cast of actors as different animals. The series debuted on the “Dumont” TV network on Tuesday night, 11 March 1947 at 7 PM as a 1-hour long show. One month later the show became a ½-hour show shown every weeknight at 7 PM. In January 1948 the series moved up to air from 6:15 PM to 6:45 PM weeknights. In April it moved its’ air time one final time up to 6 PM weeknights. The host of this show was Bob Emery who went by the name of ‘Big Brother’ Bob Emery for this series only.

Letters were sent into the show by very young children and read over the air and they would have the writers’ photo shown as well. The show was a sort of educational tool as it provided lessons to the small fry or little tykes on good behavior, safety and drinking more milk to build stronger bones. The series began as a radio show on a local station in Medford, Massachusetts in 1921. The series is said to be one of the earliest ever to have a national club that allowed the young kids at home to join and to enter contests. Emery began his entertainment career spelling his last name Emory and his first national appearance anywhere was an uncredited part in the 1937 Comedy film “Take A Chance”. “Small Fry Club” aired for 4 seasons with the final national episode airing on 15 June 1951.